The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1887-02-19
Correspondence :Baltimore County Union.
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.
ANTIQUITY OF AGRICULTURE.


inaly, at least far the principal species are
concerned, from three great regions China, the
southwest of Asia with Egypt, and intertropical
America. Drawings of figs in the pyramid of
Gizeh furnish an example of the cultivated plants
of Egypt at period perhaps 1900 years ago,
when the people had already made some progress
in civilization, and must have had an established
agriculture-se centuries old at least. In
China the cultivation of plants must date from an
equally early period, for in 1900 B. c. the En-
peror instituted an annual ceremony of planting
rice, potatos, wheat and two kinds of millet. In
America, agriculture is perhaps not quite so an
cient as in Asia and Egypt, if we to judge
from the civilization of Mexico and Peru, which
does not date even from the first centuries of the
Christian era. However, the widespread Guilt
walton of certain plants, such as maize, tobacco
and the sweet potato, argues considerable anti
guilty, perhaps 1000 years or whereabouts.
CHANGES IN ENGLAND's coAsT-LINE.
In a recent address to the British Biologists
Association, Mr.. W. Topley stated that the land
area of England is probably as great 500 years
ago, although certain coasts have been much
worn by the waves. On the coast of Holderness
and Norfolk the sea is gaining on the land at the
average rate of from two to three yards year,
while during exceptional gales the loss in places
has been many yards in single day. The eroded
material is deposited elsewhere as in the estuares
of the Humber and the Wash, forming new land
quite equal in extent to that carried away.
AN EXPECTED STAR.
bup G,,nuu 70 ~ IN,
brightness few very strikingly-in periods
ranging from o few hours to several centuries. In
one class the changes seem to follow regular
law, and in another they are irregular and spas
modic. To the latter class probably belong the
so. called "new" stars from time to time recorded,
which, instead of being new creations, are doubt
less faint stars suddenly flashing into prominence.
A most remarkable new star was seen in 1872 by
Tycho Brahe, who reported that it became sud-
denly so brilliant as to be at noon, then grad
ually faded away, and was lost to view in about
sixteen months after it was first observed. Since
the invention of the telescope faint star has been
detected SO near the spot marked by the famous
Danish astronomer that it is thought to be the
whose blazing up he witnessed. This is supposed
to have been the bright star of 1854 and of 945,
and European astronomers are reported to be now
watching for another outburst of its brilliancy,
which seems to be due if this theory is correct.
= DRY EXTINCTION OF FIRE
For extinguishing fire in closed spaces where
water would do much damage, German physicist
recommends compound whose burning quickly |
absorbs the oxygen and renders combustion i'm
possible. His preparation contains SO parts of
powdered saltpeter, SO parts of powdered sulphur,
parts of powdered charcoal, and part of col |
cothar Crowned oxide of iron). He keeps the
mixture in ve-pound pasteboard boxes, with
fuse protruding to insure lighting it.
MICROBES.
The part played by microbes in nature, as Mons.
E. L. Trouessart says, is an important one. We
find them everywhere. Every species of plant
has its special parasites, the vine, for example,
being attacked by more than hundred different
kinds. These microscopic fungi have their use in
the general economy of Nature. They nour-
ished at the expense of all decayng vegetable and
animal matter, whose complex constituents they
reduce to the simpler form of soluble mineral sub
stances, which returned to the soil to feed new
generations of plants. In this way they clear
away all the dead bodies and useless substances
which are the refuse of life, and thus they unite
animals and plants in an endless chain. All our
fermented liquors, wine, beer, vinegar, ETC., are
artifcially produced by the species of microbes
called ferments, which also cause bread to RISE
From this point of view they are profitable in in
dustry and commerce. But, in addition to these
useful microbes, there are others which are injuri
GUS to US. Such are the microbes that produce
diseases in wine, most Of the changes in alimen-
tary and industrial substances, and, finally, a
large number of the diseases to which men and
domestic animals are subject. The germs of these
microbes float in the air we breathe and in the
water we drink, and thus penetrate to our bodies
interior. There is not single day, nor single
instant, in which we cannot be said to be in con-
tact with microbes, which are, in fact the invisi
BILE agents of life and death.
FIRE-PRooF RUBBER.
A new compound of caoutchouc, for which the
name of "woodite" is suggested, has been pro-
duced by Mrs. A. M. Wood, an English lady
The substance possesses the elasticity of India
rubber, undergoes no change by exposure, and is
claimed to be absolutely uninfammable. 1t is
proposed to use it for covering the unarmored
parts of war-ships and torpedo boats.
MISCELLANEOUS.
A recent project among astronomers is begin
ming to take definite shape. The French Academy
of Sciences proposes holding an international con-
ference in Paris next spring to arrange for the
preparation of Photographic map of the entire
heavens, this great work to be simultaneously
carried forward by ten or twelve observatories
scattered over the whole globe. j.. 80.
Recent as is the application of electricity to To-
comoton, the worlds electric railways said to
number no less than eighty. .--..-
Muschenbroeck found that human hair, fifty
seven times thicker than a silk-worm's thread,
would support weight of 1869 grains, and
horse hair, seven times thicker than this, 1870
grains. 1... t.s.- W, .a
In experiments in Russian military hospital,
smokers required seven hours to digest meal ex-
actly similar in kind and quantity to that digested
in six hours by others. Hf
A French horticulturist, Mons. Noble, has
found that the seeds of the finest varieties grapes
terminate more quickly than those of the COM
moner sorts, and that seeds fresh from the fruit
affor tbo N thosa vh ich hav heen dried